


In My Dreams

by goddess_of_time_and_magic



Category: Ghost Adventures (TV)
Genre: Astral Projection, Boys Kissing, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers to Enemies, Light Angst, Love, M/M, Magic, Romance, dream - Freeform, post-NAK Breakup
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-11 12:21:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19927993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goddess_of_time_and_magic/pseuds/goddess_of_time_and_magic
Summary: Lady Snake's ritual allowed for Zak to be able to travel in his astral form, as well as pull others from their physical form. One night in his hotel room, Zak finds himself on a desert cliffside when another figure appears.(an excuse to write a NAK astral reunion fanfic).





	In My Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> I just started a new Wattpad Account!!! Go give me follow @xXTheWhiteRavenXx (https://www.wattpad.com/user/xXTheWhiteRavenXx)

In the empty hotel room, Zak Bagans stares up at the ceiling. The cool air of the air conditioner caressing his bare chest, goosebumps waking on his flesh, but he does not move the blankets up to cover himself. He shuts his eyes. His mind drifting away from the present world into the dream world. 

Blackness gives over to bright sunlight and he is blinded for a moment. Realizing he is on his back, Zak stands up. His palms ache as he presses down into the rocky dirt around him and he brushes the stones off as he stands. Looking around him, Zak sees that he is standing on the side of a mountain, a familiar sight from when he was younger and ignorant. His blue eyes find the cliffside that the filmstar’s plane had crashed into. He remembers this sight all too well.

Suddenly, a figure appears before him, materializing out of thin air like a ghost would. It is a man. A silhouette that Zak recognizes and will forever know. Despite the harsh desert heat, the man wears a pair of black jeans and heavy, steel grey jacket. On his feet are a pair of work boots, though Zak can tell they had not seen many days of work. Slowly, Zak sighs and walks up to the figure, coming up beside him; he refuses, however, to look at the figures face.

“Zak.”

He knows the voice. Knows the exact way the voice says his name, elongating the ‘a’ in a heavy Boston drawl. Licking his lips, Zak replies, “Nick.”

“Is it really you?”

“It’s me.”

“How is this possible?”

“Lady Snake,” Zak says, continuing to look out on the desert landscape before them, watching the tumbleweed roll across the ground.

Nick chuckles, “I’m not surprised. That woman has her own agenda. Why, though?”

“I wanted to see you, again.”

“Why, though?”

“I couldn’t forget the way we ended, Nick. I couldn’t forget the way we were.”

“You know we can’t be that way, Zak. We had to many questions flying our way and my wife…,” Nick fades away.

“I know,” Zak replies, his eyes falling down to his shoes where he toes at a large stone, “That’s why I did this.”

“You wanted a safe place for us.”

“I wanted a safe place for us.”

Zak, suddenly, feels fingers lacing through his hand, but he does not feel the clink of a marriage band against his set of rings. The other hand is bare and Zak tightens his hold, “Your ring-?”

“I found someone else.”

Zak holds back the sudden emotions, “Who is she?”

“Her name is Elizabeth Saint.”

“Your partner?”

“Like you were.”

_ But she is a girl _ , Zak wants to say, “Congratulations.”

“Not yet,” Nick says, “I haven’t asked her. I’m focused on my girls right now.”

Zak smiles, remembering the oldest little girl with her father’s wildness, “How is my favorite adopted nieces?”

Nick laughs, “Annabelle will mention you, you know. Chloe doesn’t remember you. How could she? She was too young, but Annabelle does. Veronique pushes it to the side, as she does best.”

“I’m sorry, Nick.”

He scoffs, “Yeah, well. What is said is done. I’m just trying to keep Annabelle and Chloe safe.”

“You are a great father, Nick. Better than I could ever be. I never realized it.”

Nick squeezes Zak’s hand, “Yeah. You didn’t see the danger of paranormal, but the Demon House fucked you up. I couldn’t be around that. I couldn’t risk my girls lives. But,” Nick sighs, “You were right.”

“How?”

“Once you are in the paranormal, once you start messing with it, you start getting noticed. You can’t back away from it. I’ve learned that too late.”

“We could never have worked, Nick. I admit that. Not even the disagreement over this could have stopped what happened.”

“I wish we could have worked,” Nick sighs with a nostalgic tone, “There are nights, you know, even days after I left, I lay awake beside Veronique thinking about you and us. Not even just us romantically involved, but as friends. Even if we couldn’t work as lovers, we could have worked as partners, as friends.”

“We were too different, Nick.”

“I used to think our differences is what made us so great together. The fact that you were more hardcore and I was more logical. Yes, I would run into the depths of hell with you, but only after we talked about it.”

“Aaron dragged unwillingly along behind us.”

Nick laughed and Zak joined in after. Their chuckles ringing out around them. But, they fell silent with Nick’s sigh.

“Yeah, Aaron dragged along behind us. I always felt that I could make you see reason and that you could make me jump the gun. We balanced each other.”

“Then, how come we couldn’t work as friends?” Zak asked.

“I like to think that it was something simple, but nothing in life ever is. There’s always more than one answer for everything. And it all depends on where you stand, on where you look at it from.”

“Then everything is the simple answer.”

Nick laughs, “Yeah. I guess you can say that.”

They fall into silence. Holding each other’s hands, staring out into the desert landscape, it feels like they were just here and that years have not passed. It feels like they are young and not the frailed, middle-aged men that they are. 

“You know, if you ever wanted to, you could come back.”

“And how would we explain that, Zak? How would it look?”

“I could care less about what our fans would think. I want you to come back. I miss my partner in crime.”

“You do care what your fans think, Zak, and you know that it would not be pretty. You would have to come out, Zak.”

“I can’t.”

“You would have to if I came back.”

“Lie then.”

“Live a lie for the rest of our lives, then? I don’t know about you, Zak, but I can’t do that.”

Zak sighs, knowing the truth in Nick’s words.

“I know you want me to come back. I want to come back, too, but it is far too late and the damage has been done.”

“I know.”

“It’s a nice image, though.”

“How so?” 

“Me returning,” Zak can hear the smirk on his face, “Us going back to the way we were like the good old days in the Paranormal Hood,” Nick chuckles and Zak wishes he could bottle it up and keep it in his pocket forever.

“The Golden Trio, back at it again in the Paranormal Hood,” Zak replies with his own laughter.

“Hunting down the world’s ghosts.”

“Raw.”

“Extreme.”

“These are our ghost adventures,” they both say at the same exact time and burst into laughter.

For the first time since they arrived in their dreamland, Zak looks over at Nick. He had changed so much and it formed a lump in Zak’s throat. His goatee was gone and he now had a full beard on his chin that was only a few centimeters tall. Zak wondered if it still felt like his old goatee. Zak wondered if it added more to his kiss. Zak wondered if he would still be addicted to his kiss with it like he had with the goatee. 

“How is Aaron?” Nick turns to look at him too, but Zak snaps his head away, refusing to let their gaze lock for even a moment, knowing he wouldn’t be able to escape it.

“Good,” Zak replied, “Aaron’s Aaron, you know? Never wants to go by himself, but does it anyway.”

Nick gave a small chuckle, “Yeah, not surprised.”

“I feel bad for him sometimes and feel almost at fault for placing him in those situations. He gets nightmares and he makes art to cope with them. I don’t know if you’ve seen them, but they’re pretty horrific sometimes. But, I also know that he likes the paranormal and wants to discover his own answers.”

“You can’t blame yourself for him, Zak,” Nick replies, “Like me, he has his own personal choice to ignore you. I admit that now, despite our little disputes on the matter,” Zak gets flashbacks to the Exorcist House and the Zozo Demon House, remembering their arguments over Nick being left alone in those places.

“Yeah, but it still doesn’t stop my own demons,” Zak sighed.

“Are they still bothering you?” Nick asks with genuine worry in his voice that startles even Zak.

As a response, Zak turns to look at Nick, wondering if Nick is only speaking and not actually worried about him. And their gazes lock. Zak feels himself drowning in those brown eyes once again. He swallows.

“Yes, they have always been,”  _ ever since you left, they got worse _ , Zak wants to add, but he keeps his mouth shut. He has already said way too much.

“Liar.”

Nick feels way too close to Zak now, but the older man still isn’t moving, “Ever since you left, Nick, they got worse.”

It’s out and Zak feels weight lift from his chest. Not even Aaron, Billy, and Jay knew about what he dealt with mentally every night. Nick always did and helped him get through it, but when he left, Zak’s mental walls came crashing down. Every night was hell for him when he closed his eyes.

Nick nods in understanding and lifts his hand to the side of Zak’s face. The older man leans into the calloused hand, shutting his eyes, and sighing, relishing in the younger man’s touch. Nick’s thumb smooths over the creases that formed in Zak’s face from age and stress and over the rough 5 o’clock shadow he had. The younger man sighs.

“Zak, look at me.”

Zak opens his eyes, connecting with the deep brown that he was so familiar with. Despite the years they’ve been separated for, Zak could see that they were still the exact same shade of brown. And, he knew, Zak would have an even tougher time trying to escape the younger man’s gaze than ever before.

The space between the pair suddenly closed and Nick pressed his lips against Zak’s, who could barely contain the moan coming from his mouth nor ignore the feeling of electricity spreading across his body and down to his toes. The older man wrapped a hand around Nick’s waist, pulling him closer, and Zak angled his head to better kiss Nick. Nick bent into Zak willingly, back arched into him, trying to kiss him with as much feeling as he possibly could in the last few moments they had together. 

Like they were younger, Nick nudged his tongue at Zak’s lips and the older man opened himself up to Nick with such ease. Zak wasn’t going to fight for dominance, as all he wanted was to feel Nick one last time. Their tongues met and Zak groaned at the feeling he had craved for so long. No matter what lover he had at the time, no one could compare to the devilish touches and caresses that Nick Groff had. 

The hand that was cupping the side of Zak’s face slid into his hair and Nick pulled on the hair strands, making Zak moan loudly, and their lips parted. Zak’s face was up to the sky, open-mouthed in ecstasy, while Nick latched onto Zak’s neck, sucking on the sections of the older man’s neck that Nick knew so well. Occasionally, Nick would bite down on the skin, leaving little indents from his teeth. Zak gripped tightly onto the other man, trying to keep him as close as possible to Zak’s body.

“Nick,” Zak sighed as the younger man’s lips suddenly turned gentle.

Nick no longer was seeking the rough intimacy they had when they were younger, but was a lot more gentle and soft, simply wanting to feel Zak. Nick wanted time to slow down in that moment. And Zak would be lying if he said he didn’t want it to slow down. 

The younger man nuzzled into the side of Zak’s neck, letting go of his grip on Zak’s hair. Nick placed gentle kisses on the marred skin, soothing his bites and bruises. Making his way back up Zak’s neck slowly to his lips, Nick made sure to cover every inch of the trail he covered with his lips. When he reached Zak’s lips, Nick kissed them softly before opening his eyes to look at Zak. He pressed their foreheads together so they could relish in each other’s presence. 

“I need that,” Nick replied almost breathlessly. 

“So did I,” Zak responded.

The pair laughed softly at it and they fell into a moment of silence with the occasional sound of a sigh from one of them or the shift of Nick’s forehead against Zak’s nuzzling quietly. 

“I don’t want to go.”

“I don’t know when we will get another chance, Nick, but I know this won’t be the last.”

“You promise?”

“I promise.”

“Alright,” and Nick leaned away, staring at Zak’s sapphire eyes. He smiled softly and it made Zak feel warm inside, “Well, I should probably go. You kinda took me from the middle of an investigation in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.”

Zak chortled, “Yeah, I better go back as well. The guys will wonder why I was gone for so long.”

Nick suddenly leaned forward and kissed Zak again, practically taking the older man’s breath away, “I’m sorry, Zak, for everything.”

“I’m sorry, too, but we’ve got time now.”

Nick nodded, “We do have all the time in the world now.”

Slowly, Nick began to back away and with a gentle whisper, Zak said the words that would return him back to his hotel room, “ _ Ar ais _ .”

Nick’s form disappears and so does the landscape around them. Zak’s vision turns to black. For a few seconds, it is all he sees. Then, Zak can open his eyes and he sees the pressed ceiling and the ugly wallpaper that is above him. He aches a bit, but it isn’t dreadful. So, he sits up, suddenly feeling cold. He raised his arm across his bare chest, trying to warm his goosebumped skin. Sapphire eyes look straight ahead of him at the mirror on the wall and he notices purple marks on his neck. Zak smiles. He is thankful it wasn’t a dream this time.


End file.
